Skip to main content

Visit Main Menu Block

  • Hours & Admission
  • Accessibility & Amenities
  • Tours & Group Visits
  • Visitor Guidelines

Exhibitions and Events Main Menu Block

  • Exhibitions
  • Events

Art and Design Main Menu Block

  • Collection
  • Collection Research
  • Past Exhibitions
  • Watch / Listen / Read

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Paul Klee

Verso: Untitled

Maker

Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940), designer

Title

Verso: Untitled

Year

ca. 1919-20

Medium

  • Oil paint on paper

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • Oil paint on paper

Materials

oil

Supports

  • paper

Dimensions

Image: 47.9 x 38.6 cm (18 7/8 x 15 3/16 inches)

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Anonymous gift in memory of William Warren Orswell

Object Number

46.470B

Type

  • Drawings and Watercolors

Exhibition History

Dreams and Nightmares
German Graphic Arts, 1900 - 1933
Nov 05, 2004 – Jan 23, 2005

Label copy

When painting Columbarium, Klee reused a cardboard mount on which he had previously depicted a standing figure. After pasting a thin layer of tissue over the earlier image, Klee then started Columbarium. In the early 1960s, conservators discovered the earlier image and carefully removed the cardboard mount to reveal the figure which had been invisible for decades. The figure is similar to Klee’s images of a standing magician done in 1919 and 1920, often interpreted by scholars as mystical self-portraits.

Related Objects

Paul Klee

Columbarium of the Ochsenfrosch Family (Urnenstatte der Familie Ochsenfrosch)

More objects +

Image use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use.

Tombstone

Paul Klee (Swiss, 1879-1940), designer
Verso: Untitled, ca. 1919-20
Oil paint on paper
Image: 47.9 x 38.6 cm (18 7/8 x 15 3/16 inches)
Anonymous gift in memory of William Warren Orswell 46.470B

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

Footer Main

  • Become a Member
  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Rent the Museum

Footer Main Navigation

  • Visit

    • Hours & Admission
    • Accessibility & Amenities
    • Tours & Group Visits
    • Visitor Guidelines
  • Art & Design

    • Collection Research
    • Collection
    • Past Exhibitions
  • Join / Give

    • Become a Member
    • Give
  • Exhibitions & Events

    • Exhibitions
    • Events
  • Watch / Listen / Read

    • The Latest
    • Publications
    • Articles
    • Audio & Video

Footer Secondary Navigation

  • Who We Are
  • Opportunities
  • Image Request
  • Press Office
  • Rent the Museum
  • Terms of Use
Tickets
Homepage
Go to the risd.edu homepage. This link will open in a new window.